"But Jesus gave us a new commandment
in John 13, so we don't have to do that OT stuff now!"
(and other myths)

A well-meaning Christian sent us the following comments to show why the Netzarim faith is supposedly in error. Please read each of his comments and then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, take some time to digest our responses.

Christian comment:

When Christians who are in the know use the reasoning that we are under Grace not the Law, it should be understood that we are not advocating the abolishment of Torah. But Jesus (Yeshuah) rebuked the Pharisees for heaping burdens upon the backs of people but not lifting a finger to help them…..this to me would be the burdensome laws which they imposed upon their own people.

The Netzarim response:

That is a false statement because Christians CONSTANTLY insist the "the law was abolished" and that it is "a curse" and that "we're not under the law!"

First of all, Torah consists of YHWH's Divine Instructions in Righteousness without which we would have NO blueprint for moral, holy living; Torah is His "do's and don'ts." How would it be possible to ABOLISH that?

1 John 3: 4 Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah - indeed, sin is violation of Torah.

Secondly, "grace" didn't magically appear when "Jesus" died. It was grace that allowed Adam and Eve to continue living after they sinned. It was grace that kept Cain alive after he killed Abel. It was grace that allowed Noah and his family to begin the human race from scratch after the Flood. And it was grace that saved Lot and his family from destruction. And it was GRACE that sent us Yeshua, who served as our Final SIN Sacrifice!

And, by the way, none of the above-mentioned people were "Jews" (there were no "Jews" until Jacob begat the Tribe of Judah where the term "Jews" originated) - yet they were ALL Torah observant....So, what makes Christains exempt? After all, YHWH reiterated FOUR TIMES in the following passage that ALL who believed in Him were to do EXACTLY as His Torah observant Hebrews did!

Numbers 15: 13 "'Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'"

Christian comment:

Yeshua (Jesus) also said to his disciples...."A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another even AS I HAVE LOVED YOU. By this shall ALL MEN KNOW that YOU are my DISCIPLES if you have (this kind of) love, one for another." (John 13:34)

The Netzarim response:

Christians have mistakenly used this verse to suggest a kind of sudden "New Testament" enlightenment that was not possible in Torah. Let's take a look the passage that gets twisted:

John 13: 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

Can anyone really be so foolish as to believe that Torah, in all its writings, has no commandments for people to love one another? That this was suddenly a brand new idea just 2,000 years ago? Let's look at just a few Scriptures:

Leviticus 19: 18 "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am YHWH." (AENT)

Leviticus 19: 34 "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the YHWH your Elohim." (AENT)

Deuteronomy 10: 18 "So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." (AENT)

Obviously this is not a "new commandment" in the sense of it never having been given before. Rather, it is clear that this "new commandment" means this is the first time that Yeshua is giving this particular teaching to His apostles! Let's investigate more places where this "radical new idea" occurs:

2 John 1:5-6: "Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it." (AENT)

What else can "His commands from the beginning" be other than Torah? Finally, the apostle John makes an even clearer statement on how new commandments are really about as ancient as it gets:

1 John 2:7-8: "Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining." (AENT)

What we are seeing here is that these commandments have been with us from the beginning; but their highest and truest understanding has come through Mashiyach, the light of the world:

John 1:5, 17: "In him (Yeshua) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it....For the Torah was given through Moshe, and grace and truth came through Y'shua the Mashiyach." (AENT)

1 John 1: 5 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that Elohim is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." (AENT)

2 Corinthians 4: 6 "For Elohim, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of Elohim in the face of Mashiyach." (AENT)

Ephesians 3:8-14: "To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Mashiyach, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in Elohim who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of Elohim might now be made known through the assembly to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Mashiyach Y'shua our Master, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory." (AENT)

Christian comment:

Most Christians that are aware that the woman who was caught in the act of adultery was asked by Yeshua (Jesus)..."Where are thine accusers?" When she realized they had dispersed, Yeshua said to her "Neither do I condemn thee"..."GO AND SIN NO MORE". That wasn't a suggestion but rather a command(ment). Since the death of Jesus who nailed the law to the cross, God doesn't condemn us anymore and therefore we don't have to bother with those 613 commandments today!

The Netzarim response:

Actually, that particular little story is nonexistent in the original writings. In later Greek translations a story appears in the text of a woman caught in adultery, which was inserted into John 8 as verses 1-11. The story is nonexistent in the Peshitta and does not appear in the four earliest Greek manuscripts of John.

YHWH definitely does expect us to QUIT sinning once we have the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) inside of us. Unfortunately, many who erroneously insist they can continue to sin because "we are now under grace" don't realize YHWH has certain rules and regulations (Torah) to follow and that those who willfully ignore them will be considered "lukewarm" on Judgment Day (Revelation 3). These include keeping the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Biblical Feasts and eating kosher foods.

Yeshua came to proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH and to do everything His Father commanded. He tore down the fences of man's legalism. Neither He nor His Apostles ever advocated against Torah!

John 12: 44. But Y'shua cried out and said, He who believes in me, it is not in me he does believe, but in Him who sent me. [1] 45. And he who sees me sees Him who sent me! 46. I have come as the light into this world that all who believe in me might not remain in the darkness! 47. And he who hears my words, yet does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I have not come to judge the world but to give life[2] to the world. 48. He who rejects me and does not receive my words, there is something that judges him. The word that I have spoken, it will judge him on the last day. 49. For I have not spoken from my soul, but the Father who sent me. He gave a Commandment to me what I should say and what I should speak. 50. And I know that His commands are eternal life. [3] Therefore, these things that I speak just as my Father told me, thus I speak.[4] (AENT)

Yeshua was sent by the Father NOT to do His own will, but the Father's! Many seem to think He came to replace the Father and abolish Torah....Yet He came to restore man's relationship with YHWH and remind us to totally rely on YHWH for everything.

YHWH has constantly reached out to His people and He will continue to do so and will until Judgment Day. But to continue committing sins if someone is supposedly a believer negates any chance they have at eternal life, as Hebrews 10 tells us there is no sin sacrifice for continued, willful sinning. If someone knows and understands what Torah is, then they MUST start obeying, or else they will be considered "lukewarm" upon Yeshua's return and He will spit them out of His mouth.

As for the "613 commandments" you mentioned, most were for the priests of the day, some were only for men, some only for women and some were only for a particular point in time. But there were some that were FOREVER - i.e., the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Feasts and eating kosher....

As for the "Jesus nailed the law to the cross" idea, this is another thing Christians seem to have totally misunderstood.

Colossians 2: 14 He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake 15 stripping the rulers and authorities of their power he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by means of the stake.

Answer: Yeshua wiped away the documented opinions of men (bill of charges) against us and took them from our midst; not the Torah! The Torah is holy, righteous and good. To suddenly have it "nailed to the cross" would mean that the things of God were originally evil, something to be done away with.

Our most fervent prayer is that Christians who truly want to know and please God will stop blindly taking their pastors' word for it and consult the Holy Spirit about REAL Biblical Truth.